Change
by Higuchimon
Summary: A new enemy could be on the rise. At the very least, all the Chosen are running from attacking Digimon, with no sign of their partners or their friends. Miyako has one chance to contact the others, when random chance hits and she has to work without her glasses. Those really are a liability when running for one's life. [complete]
1. Chapter 1

**Story Title:** Changes  
 **Characters:** Inoue Miyako, Motomiya Daisuke|| **Friendship:** Miyako  & Daisuke  
 **Chapter Word Count:** 1,322|| **Story Word Count:** 1,322|| **Chapter Count:** 1/5  
 **Genre:** Adventure, Friendship|| **Rated:** G  
 **Challenge:** Diversity Writing, H9, 5 chapters; Friendship Diversity Boot Camp, #45, necessary; Word Count Set Boot Camp, #15, 6,666; Include The Word Boot Camp, #26, alike; Chapter Set Boot Camp, #11, 5 chapters; Valentine's Day To White Day 2016, day #2, gift a fic to a non-forum member; Easter Egg Basket Advent 2016, Day #19, begin  & end with the letter 'e'; Advent Calendar 2016-2017, day #25, write a gift-fic  
 **Notes:** This takes place about three years after the defeat of BelialVamdemon. Tri is pretty much ignored. At the moment, the epilogue existing is optional. You can believe either way on it. Also, this is written for my good friend KrazieKat.  
 **Summary:** A new enemy could be on the rise. At the very least, all the Chosen are running from attacking Digimon, with no sign of their partners or their friends. Miyako has one chance to contact the others, when random chance hits and she has to work without her glasses. Those really are a liability when running for one's life.

* * *

Ever since coming to the Digital World for the first time, Miyako spent at least a portion of her day running more often than not. Sometimes she would run to get to the computer room on time. Sometimes she ran to get home after a mission ran late. In the early days, she'd often run because there was a controlled Digimon coming after her and she needed to get somewhere where she could evolve Hawkmon without being eaten.

Those days were long gone now, but she still ran in the Digital World. Sometimes for fun. Sometimes because she loved the feeling of the wind in her hair.

Right now, she was running because there was a very nasty BlackTyrannomon after her and she had no idea of where Hawkmon was or where the others were, and she knew if she didn't get moving, there wouldn't be anything left of her to evolve Hawkmon even if he were there.

She threw a quick glance behind herself, just enough to reassure herself that her pursuer wasn't yet going to eat her. So far so good.

 _Where did these Digimon come from?_ Ever since they'd defeated BelialVamdemon, there hadn't been any sign of trouble at all. Trips to the Digital World were now because of fun or showing family members and friends around.

At least they had been. Now they involved running for their lives with Digimon in hot pursuit who didn't seem to understand that as Adult levels they shouldn't be able to stand up against what the Chosen Children could bring against them.

Only there was something wrong about that, and no one knew how to fix it, and that all boiled down to Miyako fleeing as fast as her feet could take her while wondering where her partner and her friends were.

Probably in the same situation that she was, not sure of what was going on or where their partners were, since the very first strike whoever this was in charge of their pursuers had been to separate them all. Miyako _still_ didn't know how that happened, only that there'd been mist and cries of pain and confusion and when her sight cleared, BlackTyrannomon stared down at her like she was the dinner special.

Digimon weren't supposed to be naturally evil. That was what they'd all been told and they'd all thought it was true. But the few glances she took couldn't find anything that would indicate this one was being controlled somehow. She didn't have time to conduct any sort of test, either. All she could do was run, run, and run.

She kept on running, right up until she tripped over something half-hidden in the grass, and tumbled down to her knees, breathing hard. BlackTyrannomon roared in triumph and Miyako spared one glance to see what tripped her, hoping to find Hawkmon.

"Daisuke?" Not Hawkmon, but at least she knew who it was. Better than some of the other possibilities.

He groaned, raising one hand to his forehead, and blinked, his eyes a little fuzzy and non focused for the first few seconds before they cleared up, focusing on her. "Miyako? Whats going on?"

"Not a clue. Just _run_!"

Miyako pulled him to his feet, shoved her glasses back into place, and started running, BlackTyrannomon's claws missing her by the smallest of hair's breadths. Daisuke ran too, patting himself down as he did. She'd done the same thing herself, looking for her D-3 and D-Terminal. She had them, but without Hawkmon and without the chance to send an e-mail, they didn't do a lot of good.

"Where're the others?" Daisuke wanted to know, once he came up with the same results of his possessions that she had.

"No idea," Miyako panted. "But we have to find a place we can hide so we can find out!" Preferably a place where this Digimon couldn't find them. There had to be something, somewhere. A small cave sounded like the best option to her.

It would've helped ever so much if there were any small caves in the area to begin with. But racing through the forest as they were, Miyako didn't see a chance for any such things to turn up. She wasn't going to rule the idea out though. This _was_ the Digital World. Small caves appearing out of nowhere would hardly be the strangest thing that she'd seen in the last three years.

Another cry came from above, and both of them looked up to see a gigantic bird Digimon circling around. Miyako wasn't sure what it was, only what it wasn't: it wasn't Birdramon and it wasn't Aquilamon – not that it could've been without her, but she'd hoped for a brief moment.

This one seemed to be staring straight at Daisuke. He saw it too, and stepped up his running speed. Neither one of hem would ever be as fast as Ken was – with or without the Spore at work – but they both gave it their level best.

All the other times Miyako ran hadn't been like this. Either she could stop for rest and not worry about being chewed up and swallowed, or her friends turned up and she could just stop, or she evolved Hawkmon and the whole situation resolved itself like that.

Now she couldn't stop. Now she was being hunted and there wasn't anything to do _but_ run. Having Daisuke with her didn't make a difference except for knowing where one of them was.

Then he stopped. And turned around.

Miyako kept on for another handful of steps before she realized what he'd done and turned around to stare at him.

"Did you notice they want to eat us? Or worse? Keep going!" She briefly entertained the notion that he might've noticed something, but he just kept staring back at their pursuers, who were getting closer by the second. "Daisuke?"

"Those trees over there," he said, jerking his head towards a clump she hadn't even noticed. "Get in there and get hold of the others. I'm going to keep these two busy for a while."

She couldn't believe what she'd just heard. If it hadn't been for the two Digimon getting closer and closer, she would've argued the point.

"If you get eaten, I'm never, ever going to forgive you," she told him before racing for the trees, glad of the few moments of rest that let her get her breath back. Her legs and lungs protested moving again so soon, and she didn't even bear to look behind to see what Daisuke had in mind. She would have to trust him on this.

She did take one look, just to see if BlackTyrannomon still remained on her trail. She probably shouldn't have. Her feet found another little trap hidden in the grass and she fell head over feet, slamming into one of the trees in that tiny grove.

She'd been lucky the first time she'd fallen. Her glasses only shifted a little on her face, nothing more. This time, she _wasn't_ that lucky.

This time her glasses fell off of her face and crunched into one of the many small outcroppings of rock that salted the area. At the sound, Miyako froze, her heart suddenly in her throat. Not her glasses. Not _now_ of all times.

The Digital World always looked strange, in an oddly familiar way, as she grew used to it over the years. But now it was fuzzy and indistinct, strange in a way that she didn't like because now she couldn't tell what was what anymore.

After a few fumbles, she managed to get her glasses picked up, or what was left of them. She stared down for a moment or two, while she dug her D-Terminal out with her free hand. Sight or no sight, she needed to send that message, and hope that help of some kind could get there before whatever Daisuke was doing ended wrong.

 **To Be Continued**

 **Notes:** I'm gonna update this one tomorrow and the day after and then I will switch to weekly updates for the next two weeks to finish the story.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Word Count:** 1,349|| **Story Word Count:** 2,671|| **Chapter Count:** 2/5

* * *

Miyako stared at the remains of her glasses only for a few moments. In other circumstances, she might've mourned over them with a lot more volume and a lot more anger. But she could still hear the Digimon outside, and though she didn't speak AirDramon or BlackTyrannomon, she could understand the lust for blood in their tones.

And the person they were after was Daisuke, one of her best friends. Even if he was twice as annoying as all the others put together.

It wasn't like she wasn't like that herself on some days. But right now that didn't matter a lot. She needed to find out what was going on with everyone else. She'd found room and time to send a message. Now she had to hope that they found room and time to answer her.

She typed fast, even without her glasses, but that wasn't such a big deal. She'd learned how to type without looking at the keyboard shortly after learning how to type in the first place. She'd always had an impressive typing and accuracy speed and now she put both to good use.

 _Where are you guys? Does anyone know what's going on? Why are the Digimon attacking us? Does anyone know where Hawkmon and V-mon are? Daisuke and I are..._ She frowned, trying to think of what to say there. Where _were_ they? Even with her glasses she hadn't recognized any of this place. _Well, right now, I'm in the middle of the woods and a couple of Digimon want to eat Daisuke and I don't think any of us want that. Not even the Digimon, really._

She wondered if she should leave that in and decided to. It was probably true. Digimon were all supposed to be good at heart, which meant they wouldn't want to eat Daisuke if they were acting rationally.

Only somewhere deep inside, in the parts of her that had once hit LadyDevimon with a skateboard, she wondered if all Digimon _were_ actually supposed to be good.

She shoved the thought aside to deal with another time. She needed to get this finished and sent before it was too late. They couldn't stay here. Once this was done, she'd go grab Daisuke and they'd get moving again. Somehow. To somewhere.

 _Get back to me fast. The sooner we can work something out, the better._ There wasn't anything else she could think of. She kind of figured that once she sent it, she'd think of a thousand questions she should've asked or something else she could've put in there.

Her finger hovered over the 'send' button for a few seconds. There _was_ one more thing she wanted to put in there, but she slammed down on it and the mail sent to all the other Chosen, even the ones not in the Digital World at the moment. Maybe they'd have a better chance of answering soon, though she couldn't think of what they'd be able to do.

Also, no one else needed to know that she'd broken her glasses and didn't have a spare pair with her. She didn't even have one at home. She'd needed to schedule a trip to her eye doctor anyway. If she got through this with everything else intact, then she'd do that right away.

Well, a bit sooner than right away. She sent one more e-mail, this time to her mom. Mom didn't have a partner. Mom wouldn't come to the Digital World, not like her siblings, who did have partners and would probably be stupid enough to come looking for her anyway, and probably Jun too once she knew something was chasing Daisuke that wasn't her. Even at twenty, Motomiya Jun exerted certain rights, such as 'no one else gets to annoy my brother except me'.

Once that was taken care of, she slammed her D-Terminal shut and got to her feet, tucking the broken remains of her glasses away. Both lenses had been broken, with the glass falling out of one of them, and the left-hand side of the frame bent to the point even if the glass had been intact, she couldn't have worn them.

Pressing her lips together – shatterproof glass indeed – she headed out of the clump of trees and hoped that neither of their pursuing Digimon had managed to eat Daisuke while she wasn't looking. She hadn't heard any fatal screams, but she couldn't be too certain.

* * *

It took her a few moments to find Daisuke again. He'd led the Digimon a merry dance, doing his very best to keep them away from her while she was busy on the D-Terminal. But even he couldn't keep it up forever and BlackTyrannomon stalked ever closer, while AirDramon hovered, a look in those distant eyes that spelled out very clearly there might be a fight over who got the tastiest pieces. At least she thought it did. It was pretty high up there.

Miyako didn't have a skateboard with her today, but she wasn't going to let these Digimon eat her friend anymore than she would've let LadyDevimon unleash her wrath three years earlier.

She picked up a smooth rock, a bit heavier than she'd thought it would be when she spied it, but that wasn't much of a problem. Not with how angry she was when she saw how _tired_ Daisuke was, when she could see sweat streaming all over, and how hard he was breathing.

"Hey!" No sooner did she shout, than she threw the rock, right at BlackTyrannomon, nailing him on the back of the neck. He turned to stare at her, and while she hadn't learned giant dinosaur Digimon in the last five minutes, she also could interpret that stare very well, with or without her glasses.

 _Did you just hit me with a rock?_

Yes. Yes, she had, and she'd do it again if she had to. She didn't say anything to Daisuke. Her heart kept on pounding, while her intellect told her that she needed to get out of there before _she_ was the one being eaten.

She grabbed another rock and hefted it. "You heard me! I said _hey_! Come on, you think you can catch me?" She threw this rock too, and took several steps back. Even if she could see clearly, she knew how dangerous this was. She'd already fallen over one rock. Now she risked a lot more.

And she'd do it, because it needed to be done, even with cold sweat drenching her, and her heart racing too fast for her to think of anything else, and being unable to see more than a few feet away at best, and anything beyond that remained fuzzy and confusing.

BlackTyrannomon roared and she backed up further. She didn't let it start running toward her before she took off as well. If she gave it that much, it would have her before she could get out of there.

So she ran. She didn't want them to remember Daisuke was there, and she didn't dare run too slow, because then they'd catch her. She had no idea of AirDramon was even bothering with her or if it just took the chance to grab Daisuke when it could. All she had right now was speed and the occasional rock.

At least there were a lot of those, and she scooped up one every now and then, turning back to toss it at BlackTyrannomon. These weren't any match for one of Hawkmon's attacks, but they seemed to do the job.

Miyako found herself stumbling. While her rest to e-mail had restored her strength to a degree, it wasn't enough, especially not when she started to push herself harder far too soon. BlackTyrannomon roared, so loud that the ground underneath her feet shook, and she lost her footing, the few rocks she'd snatched up tumbling out of her hands, and she pitched forward, rolling to the side enough so that she didn't hit herself on any of them.

But those few moments allowed her pursuer the chance to get close, and Miyako prepared for the worst.

 **To Be Continued**

 **Notes:** You know, this kind of got started when I was watching the beginning of the first Tri movie and I noticed Miyako's glasses being broken. And then the ideas started to churn...


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Word Count:** 1,328|| **Story Word Count:** 3,999|| **Chapter Count:** 3/5

* * *

Miyako thought this would be her last sight, fuzzy or otherwise. Teeth coming at her, claws reaching for her, and then there would be pain and darkness.

She was rather surprised to find out she was wrong.

"Miyako-san!" She knew that voice, didn't she? Of course she did. "Feather Slash!"

Brown feathers flew from above, a ridiculous attack against a BlackTyrannomon, but there it was, and there _he_ was, hovering above her. She couldn't see him all that well – why did her glasses have to shatter _now? -_ but she knew that small feathered body and she knew that voice and that attack.

"Hawkmon!"

"I think we need something larger to deal with this, Miyako-san," her partner told her. She blinked, then started to rummage in her pocket. She knew it was in there somewhere. She hadn't gone through all of this to lose that too.

"I think you're right!" She pulled out her D-3 and held it up. "Let's do this!"

With a very familiar flash of light that she didn't need glasses to see properly, Hawkmon became Aquilamon, and began to circle in great turns over BlackTyrannomon, preparing his attack, while Miyako scrambled to her feet and darted for a place to watch everything. She would've liked to get on his back, but without her glasses, she didn't trust herself to not fall or get hit by something.

Flying wasn't easy at all. Magnificent and something she kind of wished she could do on her own, but not easy.

Part of her also didn't want to watch the fight. No matter how necessary it was, the idea of fighting revolted her. There had to be a better way for people and Digimon to solve their problems, but not everyone would be willing to sit down and talk them through. They'd tried. Sometimes it worked. Sometimes it didn't. Now didn't seem like one of those times.

Claw to claw, beak to fanged muzzle, Aquilamon and BlackTyrannomon battered at one another, occasionally drawing back to use one of their special attacks. Miyako clenched her teeth together, fingers digging into her palms to the point she wouldn't be surprised if she bled, and hoped to see either some kind of an Evil Tower underneath the skin of a Digimon – though there wasn't any Evil Towers left in the Digital World anyway – or to find BlackTyrannomon was controlled in a fashion yet undiscovered.

Neither of those things happened. Aquilamon darted downwards, wings blasting a huge gout of air toward BlackTyrannomon, following it up with a strike of his talons and beak, sending his opponent tail over muzzle.

"What should I do, Miyako-san?" Her partner wanted to know. "He'll get up again soon!"

Miyako knew just how right that was. She knew what had to be done. And she didn't like it.

"Take care of it," she said, her voice just audible, and her heart twisting. After what happened with LadyDevimon, Demon, and SkullSatamon, she knew that she shouldn't have been so upset about it. If this Digimon really was evil, then doing this was a good thing, right?

Maybe it was. That didn't make her enjoy it any more when Aquilamon did the deed, and BlackTyrannomon faded away into bits and pieces.

Aquilamon dropped down beside her, going back to Hawkmon, and automatically wrapped one wring around her. She dropped down herself, fighting off exhaustion and tears, and struggled to draw a proper breath.

"Did you see Daisuke? He was around here. What about the others?" Hawkmon couldn't have gotten her message, not without one of the others around, so she hoped he knew more than she did.

"I think he's over that way. V-mon went to get him. But we haven't seen the others, either."

Miyako tried to work through all of that, looking up at the sound of oncoming feet to see the rest of their Digimon - everyone from Agumon to Wormmon – coming toward them. Only V-mon wasn't there, which made sense with what she'd said.

She got up again. She had to focus. As much as screaming and running around in a panic would've been useful, she couldn't do it, not when she didn't know what happened to everyone else. Once they were all safe, _then_ she could panic.

"Let's go see if Daisuke's all right," she decided. What else were they going to do? Until she got some kind of an answer – she made certain not to think _if_ she got some kind of an answer – they had to work with what they had.

XV-mon's triumphant howl guided them to where Daisuke sat on his partner's shoulder, watching with a bit of satisfaction as AirDramon dusted in the breeze. Wormmon bounced over as fast as his pods could carry him.

"Are you all right?" Wormmon wanted to know, staring up at XV-mon, with the occasional annoyed look at where AirDramon had been. Wormmon was the kindest Digimon that Miyako knew, but he could still get fierce if Ken, Daisuke, or V-mon were in any kind of danger.

"Not a problem!" XV-mon declared as Daisuke slipped down to the ground. "What about you guys?"

Once they'd cleared up the situation as best they could – which still meant mostly agreeing that none of them knew where the others were and they should probably all stick together – Daisuke turned toward Miyako, mouth opening for a moment before he shut it again, staring at her. Hawkmon looked from him to her, then peered more closely at her.

"Did you lose your glasses, Miyako-san?" Hawkmon wanted to know. She flushed, rubbing the bridge of her nose.

"Not really. I kind of… fell, and they broke." She dug the shattered pair out of her pocket and showed them. "It's not a big deal. I'll get them replaced later." She hadn't had time to think about it a lot, but another idea had begun to wiggle its way into her thoughts. She liked how she looked with her glasses, but if they were going to start to have to run for their lives again on a regular basis, then wearing glasses wasn't necessarily the best idea.

Daisuke peered at them before he shook his head, though she had no idea of why. "Well, we'll watch your back for you. Come on, let's go see if we can find the others."

She wanted to yell at the very thought she needed someone to watch her back, but whether she liked it or not, she kind of did . Not only could she not see that well at the moment, but even with AirDramon and BlackTyrannomon taken care of, there could be more like them.

"I didn't think there were any Digimon really like that. I mean, not any left. I guess?" She wasn't sure at all of how to phrase what was on her mind as they headed in a randomly chosen direction they hoped would bring them to their friends at some point.

"Digimon aren't human, but we're kind of like humans," Tailmon said, staring down at her gloved paws. "We can be anything we want to be. Or that we have to be."

Miyako really wanted to ask more questions about that, especially since she recalled a few times when Tailmon seemed to know a little more than she should about some things, but before she could shape the words, a powerful howl of rage split the air. Everyone stopped in their tracks.

"That doesn't sound good," Daisuke said, gripping his D-3 in one hand. Miyako had to agree. Whatever it was, _whoever_ it was, she thought it sounded like something they should all face together.

And by all she meant every last one of the Chosen, and probably any of those with partnered Digimon who could evolve.

But all they had were her and Daisuke, and a group of Digimon who needed their partners to get beyond Child level.

Somehow, Miyako didn't see this going in their favor at all.

 **To Be Continued**

 **Notes:** So, anyone curious as to what the problem is? Also, the next chapter will be posted next Monday, February 27, and the last chapter on March 6. Any requests for what you might want to see after that? Options include the Scars of Victory universe, Guardians of the Wind fic, or something entirely new.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Word Count:** 1,335|| **Story Word Count:** 5,334|| **Chapter Count:** 4/5

* * *

Those Digimon who could fly took to the skies to scout out the way, except for Hawkmon. He leaped from tree branch to tree branch when such things were there to be leaped from, guiding Miyako with quick words about what was in the way and what she would need to avoid before she stood a chance of seeing it.

"This looks clear enough," he said, peering ahead a little. "We shouldn't have any problems!"

"I hope not," Miyako muttered. She rubbed at her eyes, already weary of trying to squint and make out what was in front of her. She'd never thought she'd miss her glasses this much. It wasn't like taking them off for brief moments at home, when she wasn't walking and wasn't in danger of stumbling, falling, or having something that wanted to eat her swoop down out of the sky. She just couldn't _see_ things properly.

She knew what things _were_ ; she knew trees and clouds and her companions, but she couldn't see them right, and that threw everything off.

Every now and then she tried to check on her D-Terminal, just to see if she had any answers yet. So far, no one had managed to come up with anything that could help them through this, let alone _why_ this was happening in the first place.

 _This can't be someone making it happen. There isn't anyone. The Digimon just kind of started to attack all of us and each other at the same time._

Not all the Digimon attacked each other, she'd noticed. The BlackTyrannmon and AirDramon chasing her and Daisuke respectively hadn't fought. But they'd passed a lake and in the middle of it – or so Daisuke and Hawkmon told her – there had been a SeaDramon and a Coelamon fighting it out. She'd seen a lot of splashing water and a couple of shapes in various colors moving around and nothing more.

Still, that wasn't something she _wanted_ to see all that clearly. The question of good or evil Digimon and why they were what they were still floated in the back of her mind. It gave her something to think about while they walked and while she waited for an answer.

"We're not that far from a gateway, I think," Daisuke said, checking his D-3. "Then we can get out of here."

"What happened to all the other ones? I thought there were a lot more of them." Miyako checked her own, bringing it up to her face to try to read the screen. She _hated_ this and if it had done any good, she would've pitched the D-3 into the woods.

But since that would've just made reading it that much harder, she held herself back. Mostly.

"You got me. I guess maybe some of the Digimon trampled them or something when they started going wild?" Daisuke shrugged, a motion she just caught from the corner of her eye. "I still don't know why that happened, either."

"No one does." Miyako ground her teeth together and shoved the D-3 back into her pocket. "Or if they do, they haven't bothered telling _me_ yet."

Hawkmon fluttered in to land at her feet, mostly seen by her as a motion of brown fuzzy feathers. "I've been giving this consideration and while I can't be certain, I seem to recall something that might give us an answer."

"What's that?" Miyako _thirsted_ after an answer almost as much as she did for wearable glasses or a glass of juice right now. They hadn't seen anything that could provide a decent drink since this all started, and her throat ached more than she cared to think about.

"Well, it's been a very long time, but I seem to recall that there is a tree that blooms quite rarely. Quite a bit of time can pass between blossoms, in fact," Hawkmon said, waving one wing. "Years. Decades. Maybe even centuries. But the point is that when it does blossom, the fragrance that it puts out spreads over most of the Digital World."

Most of the other Digimon made all kinds of noises that Miyako suspected meant more or less 'what are you talking about'. But two others didn't: V-mon and Armadimon.

"I remember that too, kind of," V-mon said. "Wow, that was a really long time ago. It was… back before."

"Before?" Daisuke sounded a little confused himself. "What do you mean, before?"

"Before we were put under the Digimentals," Hawkmon said. Miyako blinked; she'd almost forgotten about how they'd released their partners from under those.

"So this tree makes Digimon go wacko?" Daisuke wanted to know. "Sounds pretty weird. Even for this place."

Armadimon shifted around. "I remember that, too." He didn't sound as if it were a happy memory. "It never bothered me, but there were some Digimon who just never recovered from it. They kept on attacking everyone, no matter what. Until they had to…"

He said nothing else, but Hawkmon picked up the sentence anyway. "Until there wasn't any other choice."

None of them had to put that into words. Miyako understood and she thought Daisuke did too.

She drew in a breath, trying to figure out if she could smell any of this herself. "I don't smell anything."

"You probably wouldn't. It wasn't a really _strong_ scent, but it got into their heads and that was it." V-mon bounced a little, and to Miyako's near-sighted eyes, he looked a little uneasy. "Maybe you guys should go home. Now that we know what this is...well..."

Daisuke crossed his arms on the back of his head. "What does this stuff do to humans?"

"That's just it. We don't know. There were never any humans around back then in the first place." Hawkmon started to fly again, going a little further ahead. "I'm going to go find Piyomon and see if she's found one of those televisions yet."

Miyako didn't protest; she wanted out of here more than ever now that they knew what was probably going on. _Probably_. She hoped it was the answer; it would mean once things cleared out of the air, the Digimon wouldn't be as nasty.

She wanted that so much.

But she also wanted to get home and not worry that every little thing she saw – or didn't see – was something that wanted to bite her face off. And to eat and drink and just have a normal afternoon again. She'd have a normal afternoon in the Digital World _later_.

Her D-Terminal beeped and she checked it automatically. A slight squeal started from her lips when she saw the sender.

"It's Koushirou-sempai!" She flicked the message open and read through it quickly. "You guys were right. He figured it out testing the air and water, since that's about the only thing every affected Digimon had access to. It's probably going to take a few days to clear out and we'll still have to watch for any Digimon who are still affected, but other than that, everything should be all right."

That had to be the best news that she'd heard in quite a while. She closed her eyes for a few seconds before she shut her D-Terminal and grinned as wildly as she could.

"Come on! Let's go home!"

She started to hurry on, wanting to catch up with Hawkmon, but her feet tangled between themselves, there was a fierce screech from high in the heavens, and everyone started to throw themselves closer, protecting her.

"We are in _deep_ trouble!" Daisuke shouted.

"What is it? What's going on?" Every time something happened, Miyako hated needing glasses more and more. She could see something circling in the sky: _lots_ of somethings, but too far away for her to guess at what they were.

Daisuke stood a little bit away from her, a blur of blue and brown, with V-mon close to him, also staring up into the heavens. Whatever was up there, Miyako wasn't sure if she wanted to see it in the first place.

 **To Be Continued**

 **Notes:** Only one chapter to go.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter Word Count:** 1,332|| **Story Word Count:** 6,666|| **Chapter Count:** 5/5

* * *

"I see an Airdramon and a Gigadramon and a Saberdramon and probably about five other Dramon types," Daisuke said, still staring upward. "Man, I wish Ken were here. We could throw Paildramon into the mix."

There were plenty of times in her life that Miyako wished she and Daisuke weren't as alike as they actually were. This had to mark at least one of them. At least he could afford to make bad jokes right now. He could see what was going on. She still strained just to tell one Digimon apart from the other, let alone what their individual types were.

She steadied herself, trying to get a little space and a little air, and looked around for the blur she started to recognize as Hawkmon. If Ken wasn't there, then their only air support would be whatever she and Hawkmon could pull off together, since none of the other flying Digimon could evolve.

 _If I've got to do it, then I will do it._ These Digimon weren't evil. They weren't going to kill them because they wanted to, but because that weirdo pollen made them want to do it.

Which, she realized reluctantly, wouldn't change the fact they were dead in the first place. No one knew what could happen if a human died in the Digital World. No one wanted to find out, let alone volunteer to do it just to see.

So what had to be done was make sure none of them died. Her hand crept to her D-3.

"Hawkmon," she said, raising her head up high. "Are you ready for this?"

Her partner stood by her, the other Digimon falling back to give them space. "Did you want to come along?"

"Nowhere I'd rather be right now." At least if she were in the air with him, she knew she'd be safe. Not so much on the ground, where things could trip her up and Digimon she couldn't properly see could and would attack her, and the others could be distracted by _other_ attacking Digimon.

She held up her D-3. Daisuke didn't even have time to ask what she was doing before she ran and landed on Aquilamon's neck, wrapping her legs as tight as possible, gripping her hands into those warm feathers, and letting loose with a whoop of joy as her partner took to the skies.

It didn't matter that she couldn't see all that well. She closed her eyes and let every other sense she had take over.

The rustle of the wind through his feathers and her hair. _I should tie my hair back if we're going to do this more often._

The feel of her hair whipping around her, the touch of his feathers in her hands. _I wonder if Hawkmon molts. I've never asked._

She couldn't _smell_ anything, but she guessed that was more because there wasn't anything much up here to smell that wasn't her own sweat and Aquilamon's well-known odor.

She didn't even want to taste anything, not up this high.

She could hear the blast of Aquilamon's attack as he coursed through the skies, forcing the other Digimon away from their friends who couldn't get into the skies. Her hair whipped harder, some of it landing in her mouth, and she tried to spit it out. She kept her eyes closed and it was almost like still having her glasses, except without the weight of them on her face.

She really did need to do something about that. Even if this was just a one-time thing, regular visits to the Digital World meant the chance of something like this happening again. So…

Miyako wasn't sure of how much time they spent in the air, or how long it took until Sora and Garudamon joined them, the two of them joining forces to clear the air. She kept her eyes closed until they got back to the ground, peeking up and cracking an eye as she did, glad to see that none of the attacking Digimon had stuck around.

"Miyako?" Sora came towards her. "What happened to your glasses?"

 _I'm going to hear that a lot,_ she thought. "I fell, they broke." She offered a shrug. "I already asked my mom to get me an appointment to get it fixed up."

She could see other people moving toward them and guessed they were the other Chosen, mostly from their general shapes and the way they chattered quickly, and their Digimon surging happily towards them. It was about time they got there, in her opinion.

It was about time for a lot of things.

* * *

The whole mess with the Digimon running rampant cleared up after another few days, most of which the Chosen spent in their own world with their partners, keeping an eye on those Digimon who weren't affected as best they could. Elecmon and the Village of Beginnings merited extra watching, and Ken and Daisuke took that job.

Miyako waited out the time until her eye appointment with some of her attention on the reports from her friends, and the rest of it trying not to trip over things at home. Hawkmon gave her what help that he could for that, but no one could've been gladder to see a doctor's appointment roll around than she was.

Especially since she had something she wanted to ask of the doctor once she got there.

Hawkmon peered around the waiting room as they waited, curiosity in every fluff of his feathers. They weren't the only ones there, but she was the only one with a partner Digimon. No one did anything other than stare, though.

Once called back, she knew the general drill for going through an exam. She'd done this fairly often, after all. Getting what she wanted along with new glasses didn't come with any extra problems, either. It would take some doing to get used to a new routine but it would be well worth it.

* * *

"Miyako!" Daisuke waved to her as she bounced up to join the others. Today she was the last one to arrive, mostly because she'd had to make a trip to pick up some new things, and because she wanted to make certain she brought snacks with her today.

No sooner was she close enough than he frowned, peering harder at her . "Aren't you going to get your new glasses today?"

She grinned mischievously, happier than she'd ever been before. "Actually, I did." She fished them out of the purse she'd taken to wearing recently, making sure it was one that wouldn't hamper her running if she needed to run. "But I don't need them right now."

"You don't?" Hikari glanced up toward her. "Why not?"

Miyako held her head up high, shoulders thrown back. "Can't you tell?"

All of them looked at her, but it was Daisuke who figured it out first. "You got contact lenses?"

Miyako grinned even more at that. "I think they'll work a lot better if we're running around the Digital World, right?" She tapped the glasses in her hand. "This'll be for times when we're not doing that."

"Good idea!" Daisuke declared. "I was kinda worried you were gonna break your head open if you fell back then. They look good, too. I mean, you look good, because you can't really see the contacts..."

"Daisuke," Ken murmured, "you don't have to say everything that comes into your head. I keep telling you that."

Daisuke blinked over at him. "What would I do with it if I didn't say it, though? I might forget it if I didn't say it, too!"

Miyako didn't stop herself from laughing. There wasn't any way that she could have. Daisuke could get older and maybe more mature in some ways, but in other ways, he'd never change, and she liked that about him.

Sort of like the Digital World. No matter how they had to change to deal with it, she'd always love it there. And she always would.

 **The End**

 **Notes:** Well, that's done. Next week I'll probably start something new. Thinking about it being Scars of Victory. Time to torment Daisuke again, if only by implication.


End file.
